of the electoral process, ensuring that elections are held in keeping with the principles of the constitution and/or statute law. 87. In addition, EDRSs ensure that the electoral process complies with the legal framework through a structure of electoral responsibilities or liability. The procedures for determining liability seek to impose a sanction, either criminal or administrative, on the perpetrator or person responsible for the criminal act or the infraction (that is, a violation or breach of the law which is not a crime) of the electoral provisions. This regime is therefore predominantly punitive. It does not correct or annul the effect of an electoral irregularity. It punishes either the person who committed the violation or the person responsible for ensuring that the violation does not happen, through either the electoral administrative law, which imposes the sanctions, or the electoral criminal law. It therefore involves the indirect oversight of elections (see table 4.1). Table 4.1. The EDR system EDRS distinctions Type of function Electoral challenges Corrective Procedures for determining electoral liability or responsibility Punitive Action Result Annul, amend or acknowledge the irregularity Punish the perpetrator or person responsible for the electoral crime or infraction Kind of oversight Direct Protecting or restoring the enjoyment of the electoral right Indirect 88. In some cases, the same law establishes the definitions and procedures both for electoral challenges and for processes to establish criminal or administrative liability. Equally, the same EDRB also adjudicates on both simultaneously. If, for example, electoral officials were shown to have modified the results of the count, it could be possible both for the result of the election to be annulled (following a challenge by which it is shown that the wrongful conduct is so extensive that it may reasonably be supposed to have affected the result, but it is not possible to identify the correct result) and for a criminal penalty to be imposed on the election officials responsible. The possibility could also exist of an administrative penalty, financial in nature, being imposed on a political party by an EMB or an administrative law court if there was evidence that the political party was involved in influencing the officials. 89. In the United Kingdom (UK), two High Court judges sit without a jury to try, without recourse to appeal, the electoral petitions through which the result of a parliamentary election is challenged. The judges must determine: 38